Jungian Principles

The Swiss Psychologist
and former Freud disciple Carl Gustav
Jung was interested in the teachings of alchemy and astrology,
especially in the later phases of his working life. The resulting
insights can be found in his Analytical Psychology. This
theory goes far beyond the teachings of Freud.

Freud assumes that
a child is born as a "tabula rasa", and the character begins to
form from birth onwards. Jung, on the contrary, states in his book
Psychological Types: The individual disposition is already a
factor in childhood; it is innate, and not acquired in the course
of life.

The whole theory
of astrology is based on this principle. Liz
Greene, a Jungian psychotherapist and astrologer, is convinced
that astrology can help to discover the nature of this innate seed.
Astrology can not only tell us about the self we know, but also
about the one we do not know, she writes in Relating.
The horoscope, being a "map of the psyche", can point to character
traits which have not yet become conscious. With its help we may
get to know ourselves better and come to a more complete understanding
of our true nature. Jung's Analytical Psychology attempts something
very similar: individuation and arrival at one's true self.

Some of the Jungian
principles reflected in astrology will be described on the following
pages. We will look at the concepts of "Synchronicity", "Archetypes",
and the "Psychological Types".